Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman by Mary Tillman, Narda Zacchino (With)

From the Publisher

In this explosive, heartbreaking, and deeply personal book, Mary Tillman shares the story of her son Pat's extraordinary life, the meaning of patriotism, and the Tillman family's efforts to uncover the truth about his death in Afghanistan at the hands of his fellow soldiers.

The New York Times - Tara McKelvey

Much of the story has been revealed in newspapers and Congressional testimony. Yet Boots on the Ground by Dusk offers something other accounts do not: the heartache of searching for answers about a son's death…it overflows with love and moral outrage.

Publishers Weekly

This gripping and emotional memoir by Mary Tillman relates the tragic story of her son Pat who gave up dreams of playing in the NFL to fight in Afghanistan and lost his life at the hands of his fellow soldiers. Tillman gives a stirring, raw and honest reading, relating her struggles both internally and with the less than forthcoming U.S. government, as well as her son's incredible life story. Despite the heightened emotions at work, Tillman never loses focus and presses on to deliver a memorable reading as solemn as it is tender. Pat Tillman's story has been shrouded in mystery since his death in 2004 at the age of 27; Mary Tillman brings her son justice with this audio. A Modern Times hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 3). (May)

Kirkus Reviews

Eulogy, investigative report and all-out condemnation of the U.S. military-and those who control it. When NFL player Pat Tillman gave up a multimillion-dollar contract to enlist in 2002, more than a few people-including his family-questioned his judgment. Inspired by 9/11, however, Tillman and his brother Kevin chose to become Army Rangers. Two years later, Pat was killed in Afghanistan. Hailed as a heroic patriot by the Bush administration during a period when good news was in short supply, Tillman was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his valor-accolades that seemed almost cruel when it came to light that Tillman was killed under mysterious circumstances by members of his own platoon. Though known primarily as a football player, Tillman's athletic feats are little more than footnotes in his mother's plaintive, cathartic reminiscence about Pat's childhood and his closeness with brothers Richard and Kevin, relationships with friends and abundant intellectual curiosity. Her rage over his death-and the obfuscation that followed-is palpable, however, and is at least as strong as her grief. Alongside fond memories and recollections of Pat's charismatic bluntness and self-sacrificing nature, Mary details her family's exhaustive search for the truth with the help of allies ranging from Senator John McCain to retired General Wesley Clark to numerous investigative reporters. Standing in the way, however, are layers of military bureaucracy, blocking every attempt to get records, and, perhaps, an administration unwilling to admit that it was fully prepared to leverage Pat's accidental death as a tool to increase support for the war. Mary's tender tributes are achinglysincere, though they sometimes sit awkwardly alongside the in-depth details surrounding the search for the truth. But the chilling results yielded by the Tillman family's unflagging efforts indicate that Pat's death was, at best, a result of gross negligence and incompetence on the part of the U.S. Army and, at worst, a sinister coverup by high-ranking officials willing to lie to a soldier's family and hoodwink the public in exchange for higher approval ratings. Moving, powerful and overwhelmingly distressing. Agent: Steve Wasserman/Kneerim & Williams

Product Details

• ISBN: 1594868808
  
• ISBN-13: 9781594868801
• Format: Hardcover, 368pp
• Publisher: Modern Times
• Pub. Date: April 2008
• Sales Rank: 28,078